The present invention relates to compressor system and to a method for controlling and/or monitoring a compression system comprising one or more compressors and one or more peripheral devices, wherein the compressor and peripheral devices are arranged or connected in a predetermined configuration, and the compressor system is controlled and/or monitored by a control/monitoring unit.
Compressor systems constitute a system composed of a multiplicity of compressors and peripheral devices of various types which are coupled to one another via an air pipeline network, and via a water pipeline network when heat recovery systems are used. In general, compressor systems are configured individually for the local conditions. There is no generally valid structure for compressor systems. The behavior of a concrete compressor system may therefore only be analyzed and evaluated in a restrictive fashion without knowledge of the structure of the compressor system.
In order to actuate and diagnose the compressors and peripheral devices in a compressor system, so-called superordinate station controllers are used. Such station controllers are comparable, in terms of their function, with control systems in process engineering. The essential difference from control systems is that control systems normally operate with a control and analysis method which has been developed specifically for the process to be controlled. In the specific development, knowledge about the structure of the process to be controlled and the operational relationships between the individual components of the process is coded. However, in the case of station controllers, control and analysis methods which have been developed specifically for the compressor system to be controlled and monitored are the exception. In the normal case, a standard control and analysis method is used which is adapted to the local conditions merely by parameterization.
An objective of the present invention is, in contrast with the prior art, to specify a method for controlling and/or monitoring a compressor system which takes into account the local conditions of a compressor system more precisely. The present invention also relates to a compressor system which takes into account the local conditions of a compressor system more precisely.